In a technical context that involves computing, networking, storage, and services, the term “cloud” may be defined in various ways. However, definitions generally recognize a cloud as having multiple key characteristics, such as some combination of two or more of virtualization, resource pooling, scalability and elasticity through on-demand provisioning of resources, multitenancy, device independence, location independence, web accessibility, internet accessibility, and centralized administration. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's definition of cloud computing identifies five essential characteristics, namely, On-demand self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid elasticity, and Measured service.
Individual clouds may be distinguished from one another based on authentication requirements and other security measures at the edge of a given cloud, based on legal title, based on service level agreement definitions, based on control of underlying hardware or system software by different entities, and in other ways. Some clouds are open to the public, or at least to any paying subscriber. Other clouds are “private” in the sense that legitimate access to them is restricted to a single entity or a specified small group of related entities, by technical and legal mechanisms.
In addition to the characteristics that make a given collection of resources qualify as a cloud, and that delineate it as a particular cloud which is distinguishable by one skilled in the art from other clouds, a particular cloud may have operational or performance characteristics that relate to corresponding operational or performance goals or requirements. “Validation” of a cloud involves testing the cloud to assess compliance with operational or performance goals or requirements. Cloud validation poses technical challenges. Improvements in the efficiency, thoroughness, cost-effectiveness, flexibility, reliability, and availability of cloud validation capabilities would be advantageous.